Investors continued to deploy capital in U.S. stocks Monday, the start of the fourth quarter, despite a horrific mass shooting at a country music event on the Las Vegas Strip late on Sunday. President Trump condemned the incident as an "act of pure evil" and urged Americans to unite and resolve their differences.

XThe small-cap Russell 2000 led the markets with a 1.2% gain. The 30-stock Dow Jones industrial average followed, advancing nearly 0.7% as at least 10 components rose 1 point or more. Most of them hailed from the medical, financial and industrial sectors.

The S&P 500, benefiting from rallies in housing and media-related stocks as well, rallied slightly more than 0.3%. The Nasdaq composite was not far behind, up 0.3%, following a solid gain of more than 1% last week that also featured a bullish test of support at the index's 10-week moving average.

Volume was slightly lower on the Nasdaq and fell on the NYSE, according to preliminary readings. However, as seen in a daily chart, the Nasdaq has now waged a fifth straight gain and each up day came in higher than normal volume.

A rise in the major indexes in higher or heavier volume is a sign of heavy institutional accumulation in shares. That's positive for equities.

As seen in IBD Big Picture and Market Pulse, the market is currently in a confirmed uptrend, and few distribution days are on the books. A distribution is a significant decline in higher volume, which signals professional selling.

The Nasdaq's Accumulation/Distribution Rating, a 13-week gauge of institutional activity, was a poor D+ Rating on a scale of A to E last week. Watch to see if this rating improves.

Meanwhile, Advanced Energy Industries (AEIS), Bioverativ (BIVV), Cabot Oil & Gas (COG), Goldman Sachs (GS) and IBD 50 name Stamps.com (STMP) are just five of perhaps a few dozen companies that get high IBD ratings and are forming the right side of bases.

Key bases to know and utilize when hunting for excellent breakouts include the following:

The flat base, a minimum five weeks in length (or 25 trading sessions as seen in a daily chart).

The saucer base, which has the look of the silhouette of a saucer and appears to show a milder decline from head to toe vs. a normal cup pattern.

Also be sure to know what's the average turnover for a stock. IBD uses the 50-day moving average as the gauge. You can see the 50-day moving average for volume on every IBD and MarketSmith chart.

On a weekly chart, use the 10-week moving average, which is the average weekly turnover over the past 10 weeks.

Advanced Energy, a specialist in power conversion products, notched a fourth day in a row of stout gains in strong turnover, a positive sign. While shares are now extended past a 78.95 handle within a 16-week cup base, Advanced Energy has yet to clear the base's left side.

Earnings have taken off since 2016, when profit jumped 43% for the year to $3.11 a share. Analysts see profit climbing even faster this year, up 48% to $4.59 a share, before cooling off for just a 1% EPS gain in 2018.

Over the past five quarters, the Fort Collins, Colo., firm's earnings have jumped 16%, 28%, 231%, 89% and 67% vs. year-ago levels. Q3 profit is expected to rise 52% to $1.17 a share.

Goldman is forming a saucer base, which can stretch longer than a year and shows a generally gentle pullback and slow rise near 52-week or all-time highs before the breakout. If a handle forms over a minimum five sessions, add 10 cents to the highest price within the handle to find the correct entry.

The Wall Street firm has yet to form a handle, so for now the proper entry is 255.25.

Analysts see Goldman's profit rising 12% this year to $18.17 a share and another 10% to $19.94 in 2018. However, keep in mind that the company depends on a big bulk of its revenue on trading in the fixed income, currencies and commodities markets. Flatlining action in any of these sectors could materially impact Goldman's top and bottom lines.

Bioverativ, a spinoff from Biogen (BIIB), rallied nearly 2% and crossed over its 50-day moving average price-wise in heavy turnover, a bullish sign. Shares are forming a cuplike pattern and are 10% below the cup's left-side high of 64.41.

The decline within the cup is a mild 16%, well within the maximum threshold of 33%, and it shows that holders are not so willing to dump their shares.

Bioverativ is an expert in blood-related diseases such as hemophilia. The company lost money in 2013 and 2014, then earned 79 cents a share in 2015 and $2.30 in 2016.

The Street sees earnings barreling 26% higher in 2017, to $2.90 a share, and up 11%, to $3.22, in 2018.

The current base has the look of a cup, but it could also wind up being a saucer pattern.

In addition to the Accumulation grade, use a weekly chart and count how many up weeks within the base came in above-average turnover vs. the number of down weeks in heavy trade. In Bioverativ's current base, the count is equal at one up week in heavy volume vs. one down week in heavy trading.

Stamps.com, which has posted terrific gains in the top and bottom lines in recent years, rallied 4.4% to 211.60 in thin volume and appears to have formed a nearly eight-week cup with handle. The proper buy point is 212.75.

Keep in mind that Stamps.com faces very tough year-over-year comps on EPS, as Q3 earnings are seen falling 16% to $1.95 a share after a 104% increase in the third quarter of 2016.

Stamps.com also has risen more than 330% since initially breaking out of an early-stage flat base on top of a longer base at 51.16 in the week ended Feb. 13, 2015.

Notice: Information contained herein is not and should not be construed as an offer, solicitation, or recommendation to buy or sell securities. The information has been obtained from sources we believe to be reliable; however no guarantee is made or implied with respect to its accuracy, timeliness, or completeness. Authors may own the stocks they discuss. The information and content are subject to change without notice.